Soundtrack Dissonance Discussion - Television Tropes & Idioms

Anecdote: a friend of a friend of this editor made a montage of these kinds of clips. When I heard about this, I suggested his next project be Holocaust images played to the Benny Hill theme song. Yes, I'm actually admitting to this. Oh, and by the way, he took that suggestion.

No anecdotes, please. >>v

Prfnoff: "There Will Never Be Another You" is not a song by Cole Porter.

Episode 7 of Fullmetal Alchemist ends on one of the biggest downers of the series, with the mad alchemist Shou Tucker having transmuted his daughter and his dog into a tormented Chimera, only to have her captured by the military and rescued by Ed, only for her to run away and be (arguably mercy-)splattered by Scar. The actual ending falls with Ed staring at her remains, shocked. Cue "Indelible Sin", an incredibly upbeat and chipper j-pop confection of an ending.
- This troper doesn't find "Indelible Sin" an upbeat song at all. She finds it a nostalgic and melancholy tune, and if you know the lyrics they're incredibly dark (two young teenagers who have an indelible sin and, metaphorically, a massive and indelible trauma but still have to go on even though it hurts like hell and they (think they) only have each other left in the world). Also, many of the ending images are pretty depressing as well (what about Ed and Al alone in a dark forest, Ed on his mother's grave, Al half destroyed by Scar, etc? Granted, it's also a song about the two brother's determination and amazing bond with each other, but if you interpret the tune as upbeat it's still Lyrical Dissonance in all its splendor.

Self-defeating, Conversation In The Main Page, etc.

Looney Toons: Deleted the following, since the Penzance example is already covered in Lyrical Dissonance and the other is not a soundtrack at all.

The Pirates of Penzance - The pirates sing how they silently they sneak up upon their victims, to a booming, percussive score.
A real-life example. "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" is commonly sung at the beery, cheery end of parties and ceilidhs, oblivious to the gloomy interpretation of the words.

Seanette: Minor edit in the example from The X Files, correcting which character(s) were killed with dissonant background music in "Home". (The deputy's demise did not have background music.)

Peteman: What about when music is overly dramatic but the scene is utterly mundane. I remember seeing the Pilot for Venture Brothers, and while the Monarch was on a plane drinking something, he notes that he's finished off the drink, all the while suspenseful music is playing. He presses the button to call over the stewardess to a dramatic sting. I realize it's probably What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome, but I want confirmation.

gs68: Took out a bunch of my own examples, since they're not Soundtrack Dissonance, but rather Theme Music Power Ups.

Fire Walk: From the Doctor Who entry:

Both "Song For Ten" and "Love Don't Roam" are happy, upbeat, peppy orchestral pop songs about being separated from your loved one forever.

Is this meant to be elsewhere, or is there a specific incident where they are used in the show. And if it's just the song themsleves, shouldn't they be in Lyrical Dissonance instead?

Reminder:

Adam850: If you screw up the formatting on half of the page, be nice and fix it.

Twilightdusk: not quite sure what catagory to put it under (if it even belongs here), the Jewish national anthem has a very sad and mournful tone, yet is apparenlty a song of hope.

Bob: Cutting an example of Lyrical Dissonance.

No mention of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"?

<random troper>: Removed the following example because it doesn't fit the trope (aside from being Bad Ass in its own right, it's from an opera involving bloodthirsty flying warrior-women, mountains surrounded by fire, and various other vestages of awesome).

The famous "Ride of the Valkyries" scene in Apocalypse Now.

Rissa: Cutting the V For Vendetta example, because as another troper has already pointed out, that's not dissonance - it's awesome. The 1812 Overture comes with its own cannons, it's absolutely perfect to blow stuff up to.

Ununnilium:

Semi-subverted, as the whole point of the song is to get the woman to stop feeling bad about her husband's death by illustrating just how insignificant they are compared to the immensity of the Universe.

Not A Subversion.

Deadpool Fan: I have a suggestion, but I'm not sure if it fully fits. In Call of Duty 5, during the last few levels of the game, specifically inside the Reichstag's parliament hall, the song "Koeniggraetzer Marsch" can be heard playing the background while the player kills countless numbers of German soldiers. I figure, since the song is an attempt to harken back to the "glories" of when the Third Reich began and its being played while the whole empire crumbles around its Nazi leadership, its an effective soundtrack dissonance since the song is somewhat upbeat. However, because Nazi music isn't exactly something most sane people consider fun to listen to or happy and upbeat or somber like other examples I'm not sure if it fits. What do you guys think?

Andrew: I'd complain about the photo and caption, but I don't even know what they mean. Anyone want to explain why I shouldn't just zap it?

Attilargh: I'm curious, too. The girl in the picture is Tama-chan from Bamboo Blade, who is... Not really metal. The only scene of the series where she has her hair like that does not have any background music whatsoever, metal or otherwise. Finally, I think the caption is along the lines of "O rly?", or something equally meaningless. In fact, all this makes so little sense I'm going to chop it out immediately. If someone wants to put it back, fine, as long as that someone explains oneself.

Radical Taoist: I suppose I got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy. I put the pic up there because one does not associate hard, serious metal with mikos. If Tama was metal, then putting her up there with the caption wouldn't fit. Images associating a genre of music with something that doesn't match are the only kind of photo that can fit for this page (at least until we can put music to them).

Oh, and "Sou deshou?" means "isn't it just?". Which I have replaced for something a bit more fitting.

Dion Shmion: Does anyone have the picture in higher resolution?

Radical Taoist: I'm afraid that's exactly how I found it. This is the url I found it in◊.

What's the earliest instance of this trope? Is there soundtrack dissonance in, say, an opera?

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